OSHA offers little on death at Pearl

Updated 10:56 pm, Wednesday, April 3, 2013

An upcoming civil trial could reveal further details in the death of Inocencio Rodriguez-Diaz.

An upcoming civil trial could reveal further details in the death of Inocencio Rodriguez-Diaz.

OSHA offers little on death at Pearl

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A federal investigation into a worker's death at the Pearl Brewery has been closed after no violations were found, but the report from the months-long inquiry sheds no new light on how the new roofer died last August.

But while OSHA didn't discover any wrongdoing, a civil lawsuit set for trial in November could reveal further details on the Mexican national's death.

A week after he went missing from his first day on the job, Rodriguez-Diaz was found in the bottom of the iconic smokestack at the old brewery.

He had been working on the roof of the Boiler House, which is connected by a vent to the smokestack, but he never should have gone inside the building, much less entered the vent on the second-floor, construction officials have said.

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“We're in the process of starting to take testimony, and we believe that the testimony will bring to light a lot more evidence than the OSHA report,” said attorney Fidel Rodriguez Jr., who's representing the plaintiffs. “We do believe that there were negligent acts that occurred that were directly related to the death.”

Rodriguez-Diaz's decomposing body was covered in a thick layer of dust, and a safety harness, his tennis shoes and hard hat were near his body, according to an autopsy report.

His widow and children are struggling, Rodriguez said, adding that they relied heavily on Rodriguez-Diaz's paycheck.

Clark Aspy, who represents Tin Star, said the OSHA report is consistent with his theory that Rodriguez-Diaz's death simply was a “tragic situation.”

“We haven't found anyone who saw him, or talked to him, or had any information on why he went inside the building,” Aspy said. “... We don't think we did anything wrong.”

Cervantes, who is representing himself, told an OSHA investigator that when Rodriguez-Diaz disappeared, he thought he'd walked off the job and stolen his harness and hard hat.

“After this incident happened he also stated he felt guilty for thinking that about the victim,” the OSHA report states. “That in no way he had any idea of knowing the outcome of this incident. Mr. Cervantes again repeated that he cannot explain on why the victim went or ended up in the smokestack of the construction site.”